


The One Where We Start at the Cliffhanger

by pine_cedar_maple



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Daredevil Meets the Avengers, Gen, Post-Daredevil Season 2, is it spelled spiderman or spider-man who knows not me, spiderman meets the avengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pine_cedar_maple/pseuds/pine_cedar_maple
Summary: When you show up to a Hydra base and some local vigilantes have already done all the work for you, it's only polite to invite them back to your skyscraper to treat their injuries (ok, maybe you're not inviting them so much as hauling them back unconscious). And really, how can you respect someone's wish for a secret identity when you need to tell if they're concussed?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> lol it's literally been a year since I last looked at this I wrote it like a year ago, reread it and realized it was trash and rewrote it, reread it months later and it was still trash so I rewrote it again and then finally began working on it again yesterday. So yeah. Sorry if it's still trash I really hope not. It's probably only moderately trash. Anyway this is after civil war I guess because I think I mentioned Bucky but if Bucky did the sensible thing at the end of civil war and got help and a new arm not put back into cryo. And it's after daredevil season 2 and just whenever in Spiderman's timeline I guess. Pick the movie spiderman you like better and that's who it is. Ok let's do this sorry guys.

At the risk of sounding cliché, the building was quiet.  _Too quiet,_ Natasha thought.

This place was supposed to be crawling with Hydra’s goons, yet she barely heard a sound.

The team had gotten wind an hour earlier about yet another surviving Hydra base to be taken care of.  The majority of the team stayed in the tower more often than not these days, and fortunately this base was in the city, not an ocean away, so they’d suited up and set out as soon as they could.

It was an inconspicuous, gray, five-story building on the outskirts of Brooklyn, with the name of a made-up insurance firm displayed on the door and closed blinds in all the windows.  The first floor had been a lobby and offices, all suspiciously empty.

The team made their way up the stairs to the second floor.  It was just Natasha, Steve, Clint, and Tony today.  The mission wasn’t big enough to bring Bruce, Bucky wasn’t quite in the superhero-ing mindset yet, and Thor was away doing whatever he does.  This was supposed to be routine, just tying up loose ends.

They finally found people when they reached the third floor. 

Unconscious people, that is. 

The floor was mostly large workspaces and labs, and every room had someone limp or groaning on the floor. 

“What the hell happened here?” Tony asked aloud, completely disregarding using the comms, his face plate already up. He poked at someone with his toe, with no response.  Stealth no longer seemed like a necessary measure.

“More like _who_ the hell happened here” Natasha corrected him, noting the bruises and broken looking limbs of the men and women around them.

They continued back up the stairs to the next floor hoping for some answers, only to be greeted by a groan from one of many men scattered about, in the same state as their colleagues from the floor below. 

The team just moved on.

Believe it or not (as if the four of them weren’t already having a hard time believing what they were seeing), on the fifth floor it got weirder.  In addition to the now expected unresponsive bodies, there were _webs_.

A lot of webs.  Spider-Man style webs.

“Well I guess that answers that question” Clint retorted, poking at a few webs.

“But why do the webs start at the top floor?  Someone had to have taken out the men on the lower floors, but Spider-Man almost exclusively fights with webs, not punches” Steve added.

“Maybe the guy ju-” Tony tried to start a guess, but was interrupted by the sudden sound of a gunshot from somewhere above their heads.  They instantly snapped back into defense mode and Natasha began leading them up the stairs to the roof, weapon already drawn.  Steve gave a silent count just before they burst out of the roof access door, prepared for a fight.

They did not get a fight.  Quite the opposite, actually.

As per expected by now, two Hydra agents, though these two a little more important looking than the rest, were lying on the gravel roof, beaten to a pulp.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on?”

Clint’s outburst broke them out of stunned silence and they all relaxed out of attack mode, though Natasha was in no hurry to holster her gun.

“Is that a hand?” Steve gestured to the edge, where what appeared to be a white-knuckled hand was clinging to the lip of the roof.

“Oh god, it’s alive” Tony retorted as another hand slapped onto the ledge next to it. 

A red-gloved hand.

A pained groan came from just below the edge of the roof and a red-clad body slowly hoisted itself up.  The small horns appeared over the edge first. Once his upper half had cleared the ledge, he swung his legs over one at a time and flopped onto the gravel roof.

A bloody, exhausted, and most likely concussed Daredevil was lying at the Avengers’ feet.

But he did not allow himself to stay there.  Instead of resting, as one would after using all of their remaining strength to prevent themselves from falling onto concrete five stories below, Daredevil immediately started moving again.  What appeared to be a rope of webbing was firmly attached to his left arm and connected to something still dangling over the edge, which held a reasonable amount of weight judging by how taught the rope was.  He braced his feet against the lip of the roof and began to pull up on the rope, but struggled.  Steve immediately leaped into action and stood just over Daredevil’s shoulder, gently taking the webbing out of his hands and hoisting it up at a significantly faster pace, until a small pile of the rope was at his feet and the other end appeared, grasped onto by-

Another hand.

Also red. Surprise, surprise.

Spider-Man slowly (and painfully, it looked to Natasha) half lifted himself and half was dragged over the ledge.  Once safely over, he flopped down next to Daredevil, giving Natasha time to see just how beat up they were.  Daredevil’s nose was gushing blood and he coughed up quite a bit as well, which probably had to do with his painful, shallow breaths.  The arm that had the web wrapped around it and had been supporting Spider-Man appeared to be dislocated or broken or both.  Spider-Man somehow looked even worse, his suit covered in tears, each one displaying a different bleeding wound.  He couldn’t even sit up.

“You alive, Spidey?” Daredevil asked weakly from where he lay.

“I think so,” Spider-Man replied faintly.

Daredevil slowly pushed himself off the ground and got himself facing the Avengers and standing, but just barely.  He was cradling his left arm close to his chest and appeared to not be able to take a full breath.

“A little help?” he asked, and the team sprang into action.  Tony was able to surprisingly gently get Spider-Man into his arms bridal style, and flew off to the tower without a word to anyone else, only muttering what sounded like words of encouragement to the unconscious body in his arms. Steve meanwhile supported Daredevil to stand and they made their way down the stairs, painfully slowly. Daredevil was obviously not happy with having to be supported to stand, and nearly decided to run for it when they got outside on ground level before realizing that was stupid plan and he wouldn’t make it a block before collapsing. Clint and Natasha joined them and they loaded into the black SUV they’d taken there, Daredevil’s head cradled in Steve’s lap and Natasha weaving through the traffic at a speed that would be considered unsafe if it was anyone driving besides her.

Daredevil lost consciousness before they reached the tower.

 

*****

 

Spider-Man is faintly aware of what’s happening around him. Or more appropriately, _to_ him. He feels the sting of his wounds being wiped with antiseptic and the snugness of new bandages being wrapped.   He thinks he can even feel new stitches somewhere on his arm. Then suddenly someone is pulling up his eyelids and shining a penlight in his eyes and he’s almost totally awake.

Wait.

_There’s no mask._

He’s completely conscious and on the ceiling in an instant, the sets of hands startled away and he shoots a web out to where he sees a glimpse of his mask on the other side of the room. It’s on before a second has passed since he jumped up out of the bed. 

“Whoa, hey there. Calm down. I’m sorry we had to take your mask off, but no one in this room would ever expose you. You were pretty banged up, so we had to make sure you were alright.” One of the owners of the set of hands had been talking to Spidey, with his face to the ceiling and his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Holy guacamole, you’re Bruce Banner! Big fan dude, I gotta get a picture with you later. But back to the topic at hand,” Spider-Man takes on the tone of a cheesy old movie villain “You may have seen my face, but you’ll never know who I really am!”

“Actually, I really do apologize but we had to have Jarvis run facial recognition so we could know if you had any relevant allergies or serious medical history, so we also have your name. But more importantly, your age.  You aren’t even eighteen!”

“I know I’m not eighteen, hence the mask. Duh.”

“Will you please get off the ceiling?”

Spider-Man glared, if you can glare through the ridiculous eyes of his mask.

“Fine, you can keep the mask on. We now know you don’t have a concussion anyway. But you’re bleeding onto the floor.”

Sure enough, Spider-Man looked down to see he was dripping blood from where he was upside-down on the ceiling.  He slowly lowered himself on a web and set himself back down onto the bed.

Bruce’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to check it.

“Well, we have another guest who needs me down the hall, so please, be good.”

“Bye! Love yo- oh ow. Oh no,” Spider-Man thrust his heavily bandaged arm into the air and wiggled his fingers goodbye for a second before wincing in pain. Bruce rolled his eyes and left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are the sweetest people ever and your comments are why I'm continuing this because I truly had no where to go with this before. Also whoever told me that spideman should be spelled Spider-Man, God bless you. I love y'all I hope this chapter is sufficient y'all have warmed my cold bitter heart, sorry it's been a while since the first chapter I have no schedule for updating this.

Down the hall, Bruce walked in just as Daredevil was being rolled in on a stretcher, somewhere between conscious and unconscious. A nurse began taking his vitals, so Bruce began feeling around to figure out how Daredevil’s mask came off. A few seconds of struggling later and Bruce had clear access to his face and was holding his eyelids open, shining the penlight into his eyes, but… there was no response.

“There’s no pupil response, we need to-“

“It’s fine”

All eyes in the room went to Daredevil, who they previously believed to be unconscious but had now croaked out a few words.

“It is not fine.  You shouldn’t even be awake right now” Bruce protested.

“I’m fine. Thank you for all you’re trying to do but I’ll be fine” Daredevil was already trying to sit up, one leg swinging over the side of the stretcher to the floor, his hands feebly pushing away at the people standing over him.

“Okay, I’m impressed that you’re conscious and sitting up, but I can’t let you leave in good conscience.  You definitely have a serious concussion, broken ribs, and a broken arm at the very least, so please just lay ba-“

“I’m fine” Daredevil interjected and kept pushing himself up, which was taking longer than he’d anticipated. Unfortunately, in his current state he was too weak to even resist Bruce’s hand on his shoulder, pushing back down.

“I’m Bruce Banner, you may have heard of me. You’re in Avengers tower.  You’re safe, and no one here is interested in anything from you except for making sure you are treated properly for your injuries.  We don’t care about your name or identity except for medical purposes, so please, just, make this easy for all of us? We’re only trying to help” Bruce leaned over the stretcher and braced his hand on the railing on the opposite side as he said this, showing that he was both a little tired of this and also not about to let Daredevil try anything like that again.

“I really don’t need help-“

“Too bad” Bruce just calmly went back to what he was doing, checking injuries and writing things down. He flashed the penlight in Daredevil’s eyes one more time, just to be sure of what he was seeing, and then decided on a course of action.

“Thanks to Tony’s deep pockets and serious anxiety that we’re going to have to work through one day, we have a CT scanner here in the tower” Bruce put the light back in his pocket and began to get ready to wheel the stretcher out when Daredevil reached out suddenly and gripped Bruce’s arm.

“Wait, really, it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Bruce’s posture deflated a little and he softened his tone. “…Why isn’t it as bad as it looks? Work with me here.”

“…I’m blind.”

Bruce is immediately moving again. “Yup, okay, it’s worse than it looks, I was hoping your vision was just blurry but this is probably worst-case scenario-“

“No, wait! That’s not what I meant, I’ve been blind! I was blind before I hit my head, I’m probably barely concussed, please, I’m fine” Daredevil’s grip had tightened and he looked pleading.

“…While I seriously wish you had shared that earlier, I can see that you severely didn’t want to have to share that, so thank you.” Daredevil let go of him and Bruce relaxed and rubbed a hand over his face, looking even more tired than Daredevil. Still looking down at him on the stretcher, he put down the side railing of it and put a hand out for Daredevil to take.

“You can sit up, we need to test your reflexes and set your arm.”

Daredevil slowly took the outstretched hand and hauled himself to a sitting position with a grunt, swinging his legs over the side. His hands began to undo a hidden zipper to get the rest of the suit off, but Bruce saw what he was doing and took it from there, slowly and painstakingly peeling it off the broken arm.  There was silence while the nurse checked his reflexes and Bruce looked at and felt the arm.

“Thank you” Daredevil was tentative and oh so quiet.

“…You’re welcome” Bruce replied, and then immediately pushed the bone back into place. Daredevil let out a startled and pained grunt, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Still want to thank me?” Bruce quipped, already walking to one of many cabinets on the wall and pulling out supplies for a cast.

“Yes” Daredevil smiled at that. His hair was messy and his unfocused eyes stared straight ahead. He looked as if he was beginning to really relax, when his face suddenly darkened.

“Is Spider-Man alright?”

“He’ll be fine. Leapt to the ceiling when he woke up, if that indicates anything. His injuries look bad, but they’re mostly superficial.  He just needs to sleep.”

“Thank God.”

As he got to work on Daredevil’s arm, Bruce saw a look in Daredevil’s face that said he really did mean that. It was quiet again. When he was finished wrapping the cast (he’d chosen black for the color), he asked Daredevil if he could stay a little longer.

“The rest of the team is probably still debriefing upstairs, or just hanging out, probably worrying about you two.  They’d really appreciate if you stopped by to let them know you’re alright in person and accept a few thank-yous.  You probably have time anyway before they’re done with Spider-Man down the hall.”

“…I really can’t.  I’m sorry.  I’ll wait briefly but just to make sure Spider-Man gets home safely.”

“Alright. Here’s my number, call in six weeks and we’ll figure out how to get that cast off without blowing your identity by coming to the tower.”

 

*****

 

“We’re going to need to go to Avengers tower.”

Matt just blinked, sat still for a solid fifteen seconds, and then sighed.

“Yes, I guess we will have to go to Avengers tower.”

Matt’s new client was trying his patience in the slightest bit, not that he was terribly passionate about taking the case in the first place. A man had come in to Josie’s a few nights ago, gotten a little tipsy, and unloaded his problems on Matt, who was also a little tipsy. While not particularly moved by the man’s plight, Matt could hear the shifting of the man’s suit and rattle of his watch and smell his cologne and concluded that he was a little out of place in a shit-hole like Josie’s, and would probably be willing to pay for a lawyer, and Matt hated to admit that he was in need of a paying client. When Matt offered him his services, for a reasonable fee of course, the man introduced himself as Simon Brown, immediately insisted on them calling each other by their first names, and shook Matt’s hand agreeing to Matt’s proposal, in that order.  Business cards had been exchanged and now they were here, in the half-empty office of Nelson and Murdock, which Matt intended to use right up until the day the lease ran out.

The only real issue Matt had with the situation was who Mr. Brown’s problems were centered around.

“Tony Stark stole my idea and I want to look that bastard in the eye when we win this lawsuit.”

“Settle this lawsuit, Mr. Brown. You agreed to settle.” Matt had to interject.

“Right, settle, and please call me Simon, Matt.”

“…Of course.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

“Well, is that all for today? The next thing it seems we can do is go over there and see the rat bastard himself, and it’s too late in the evening now.”

“Well, we also would have to set up a meeting, not just waltz in.  I’ll call Mr. Stark’s legal team and we will hopefully have a meeting set up within the week.”

Matt’s words were getting tenser with each reply, so it was a good thing the meeting was coming to a close.

“Well, good evening Matt. Thanks for all you’re doing for me.”

“Well you are paying me.”

Mr. Brown got up to leave and put his hand out to shake for a moment before remembering that Matt could not see the hand and put it down awkwardly.

“Hey, since official business is over, you mind my asking how you got that cast?”

Matt smiled and responded without missing a beat.

“Fell down a few stairs. I’m quite the klutz. Goodnight Mr., I mean, Simon.”

Mr. Brown left, smiling, and as soon as he was out the door Matt slumped back in his chair and let out a much needed sigh. This was going to be hell. Did Tony Stark know about the cast? Bruce probably told the other Avengers the extent of Daredevil’s and Spider-Man’s injuries. But even worse, what if Bruce is there and recognizes Matt? He wouldn’t purposefully give away Matt’s identity, but he is not a cool headed celebrity like Tony Stark, he may give something away by accident.

 _Whatever_ , Matt decided. He’ll burn that bridge when he gets to it.


End file.
